From the Journal of the Experiment with Light
Each month there is a selected article from past editions of the journal
Pandora’s Box – holding hope Susan Norris
Eastern Region Light Gathering 8 July 2017
It was another warm day for this gathering at the very welcoming and comfortable Hartington Grove Friends’ Meeting House in Cambridge.
At the start of the day on meeting Friends
new to me, I found myself describing how I had first encountered Experiment with Light. Basically, I had come across the website. With a longstanding personal interest in meditation and as a
registered Art Therapist, I was familiar with various adaptions of mindfulness including Eugene Gendlin’s work on focusing. I had never been to a Quaker meeting although I had thought about it from
time to time and I probably would not have gone to my first meeting for worship had it not been for the Experiment. Once I had attended Meeting for Worship I was lucky enough to have that sense
of having ‘come home’. The Experiment accompanied me into membership and I am now an elder and the Experiment has continued to hold me with tough love. I find it helpful to practice alone where I can
really let go and make images as well as write but I also appreciate the Light
groups I’ve experienced.
In her introduction to the day Mary Pennock informed us that we would do an Experiment on the world in the afternoon and acknowledged something of the turbulence and devastation that is around in our
world. She referred to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ recent Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4 about how, in the throes of relentless change it is important to have a sense of identity, a vision for the
future and hope. These words struck a chord which I found myself returning to later.
Mary introduced our speaker, Caroline Kennedy, who gave a wonderful presentation about early Friends and how we might consider the similarities and differences between their world and ours. She
reminded us:
Looking back at George Fox and the first Quakers, we can find links with our situation today.
Understanding the context of these early Friends not only illuminates their practices but can also help us to grasp the radical nature of their spirituality.
The presentation was rich with references, information and ideas to be mulled over. Erudite and passionate, Caroline had packed in too much to summarise here. Suffice to say I found it illuminating and had a sense of many seeds being sown and some little sprouting seedlings of faith already rooted within me were being fed and watered. I was having such a good time I didn’t realise a gaping chasm was opening up just beneath my consciousness.
We broke into small groups and I shared that, although I did have a sense of identity and hope I was struggling to have a vision for the future for the world. It seemed too huge to get my head round. I envied the Early Quakers their bible based strength and belief in
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Caroline has developed her presentation into an article, which follows on p8-12. (Eds.)
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a Christian God. There was also a tussle going on inside me between the (under active?) activist and the contemplative seeker of peace.
And then it was time to eat and the minor miracle which is the bring and share lunch: No pre-planning but a feast of variety!
In the afternoon we settled down together to practice the Experiment on the world. We are asked to ‘let the real issues of the world emerge’ and then to focus on one issue and consider ‘what makes it like that.’ We are invited to ‘be open to the truth’ and to simply ask ‘why?’ if concentration is lost. As with any Experiment it is important to wait in the light and eventually an answer, the truth, will be revealed. Having welcomed the answer, we will know how to act.
My experience that day was that I found it immensely difficult to concentrate and had not a clue how or what to focus on. But I could trust the process and I could wait. I’m not sure when exactly I grasped the portion of truth revealed to me but I was able to articulate something of it in the small group. I came to realise that it was as though Pandora's Box
had been opened during the morning session and I was too afraid to look at what came out. In the Myth, Pandora is told not to look in the container (in some versions it is a sealed jar) but she is curious and breaks the seal and all the evil of the world flies out. It was not until we did the Experiment in the afternoon that I had to stop trying to ignore all the chaos, fear, misery and pain swilling about in the world. So much suffering is caused by the abuse of power and I wondered where my power might be.
And some of Fox’s words came to me and supported me to trust the Light and wait:
I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. And in that also I saw the infinite love of God; and I had great openings.
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The version read at the Gathering follows this article, on p13. (Eds.) See Quaker Faith & Practice, 19.03
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Afterwards, I came to understand just how important attending the Retreat with Experiment with Light: Deepening the practice at Swarthmoor Hall has been to me. Each section of the practice was extended into the hours following the formal seated meditation.so that it actually took a couple of days to get from the start to finish.The retreat version uses George Fox’s own words:
Your teacher is within you, look not forth .... For the measure is within, and the Light is within, and the pearl is within you
In my practice as a therapist it has always been important to value the not-knowing, to pay attention to my own thoughts and feelings in the presence of and in relation to the client and to do my best to listen deeply to them and to myself. Art therapy is often misunderstood and dismissed as a nice creative diversion which helps a person to take their mind off their worries. A therapist will probably be facilitating the complete opposite of this. Sitting with any images produced by the client is part of a process of recognition and acknowledgement of problematic issues and the truth of the matter generally takes time to emerge.
The Experiment is not a therapy but there are similar
processes going on for me personally. I want to be open to the spirit of truth within me which is so often obscured by fear and anxiety.
There was mention at the gathering of the way the
Experiment has been dismissed as navel gazing; a bit self-indulgent when there’s so much work to be done in the world. But surely we can learn from early Friends something about the importance of really sinking down to the seed that God sows in our hearts. Of course, Meeting for Worship offers opportunities for this but sometimes it is important to have a creative and safely contained space in which to grow and become stronger so that we can face up to the demands of the world and do what needs to be done.The bit of Pandora’s story which is often forgotten is that she got the lid back on the box and the only thing left inside was hope. We may not have all the answers but if we can hold on to hope and keep this alive we can go forward into an unknown future.
Caroline had ended her talk in the morning by quoting Henry David Thoreau and I will do likewise and repeat it here:
Do not ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. Then go and do it. The world needs people who have come alive
All the images are Susan’s: the artwork was made during Deepening the Practice 2015.
From issue 23
Articles, images and artwork in this journal are copyright to the authors, makers and photographers
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